The Magic know they must protect the basketball against the Hawks

No wonder protecting the basketball will be a key for the Magic when they host the Hawks tonight at Amway Center.

“They turned us over, and that was probably the key to the game: 20-plus points off turnovers,” Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said after his team’s shootaround today. “So that’s a big thing for us tonight, and that goes along with shooting the basketball well in the first quarter. We’ve got to take care of the basketball also.”

The Hawks are ranked second in the NBA in turnovers forced, averaging 17.5 per game.

“This is a great test for us, because they’re a team who creates turnovers and scores off of the turnovers that they create,” Magic point guard Jameer Nelson said.

Atlanta should receive a boost tonight.

Hawks coach Larry Drew said wing Kyle Korver, who missed Atlanta’s last five games because of back spasms, is expected to play limited minutes tonight.

The Hawks (12-6) have won seven consecutive regular-season games over the Magic (8-12).

Orlando has struggled in the first quarters of games this season, and Atlanta players want that trend to continue.

“We have to be able to just take their crowd out of it early, keep the momentum on our side,” said Hawks power forward Josh Smith, the reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week.

“We have to be able to frustrate J.J. Redick. He’s a great shooter. We don’t want him to get any easy buckets early, because we understand that when he gets it going, the team is very successful, as well as Big Baby, too. We have to be able to do a good job on him, have to get in to him early, and we’ve just got to cut out their lifelines on offense.”